Comments on: A Brand-Centric Business Model for Mobile Advergaming

By: Games For Mobile

Games For Mobile — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 05:03:22 +0000

Thanks for the great post that I really liked the site's content will already put in my favorites, where possible will be visiting the site.

By: Thomas Holub

Thomas Holub — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 07:40:12 +0000

I am thinking of going along this line for my new business model which is brand-centric. Great read I must say. It puts some light on the part that is still quite hazy for me.

By: Thomas Holub

Thomas Holub — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 02:40:12 +0000

I am thinking of going along this line for my new business model which is brand-centric. Great read I must say. It puts some light on the part that is still quite hazy for me.

By: nahiaali

nahiaali — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 11:27:36 +0000

Thanks for good comments.

best regards.
http://www.mobile-phone.pk/

By: composite

composite — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 11:04:15 +0000

I think there is no need to pay extra or again and again for the same type of procedure of game and for some people it is just for fun.

By: MuZui

MuZui — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 10:36:29 +0000

@Gaurav
Hi, I think this is a very interesting post, as the issues you bring up are exactly what is wrong with traditional advergaming. You don’t get any guarantees… We have tried a new business model, that offers the game for free (with ads), but the user has the option to buy power-ups in-game. So by paying minimal fees, you can upgrade your character and the experience. We also guarantee advertisers (depending on the game) 100.000 downloads! Send me a mail, if you want to know more send me a mail.

By: The Best of Indian Business Blogs: A Weekly Digest by Business Bloggers You Trust (Week Two) | Gauravonomics Blog

Sat, 16 Aug 2008 21:35:41 +0000

[...] views: I haven’t really tracked the Indian gaming industry so far, except pushing for a brand-centric business model for mobile advergaming, but Sudipto’s and Sashi’s posts have triggered enough interest in me to start a [...]

By: Global Door

Global Door — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 11:37:25 +0000

I dont belive in any pay for each game type scenario. The best games you play again and again until it becomes programmed into you and you cannot stop.
However it is true, people need to play to get the bug.

So limied versions free, that only take yuo to a certain level. could the answer.
Then buy the software, or sell it to the phone manufacturers

By: Amit Doshi

Amit Doshi — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 13:26:48 +0000

The paid to premium doesnt work at all. Most Symbian games were sold like that. They all got cracked and posted all over the place. The site mobango.com built itself on hosting cracked games but the worst offenders were some of the chinese forum type sites. We’d put a game out and it would be on there in a couple of days.

Your right about the diff in type of user. Any savvy/geeky user wouldnt download these games, they use them for free. Its the suckers who pay for games in the Indian Context.

By: Gaurav

Gaurav — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 06:36:26 +0000

@Blue: My understanding is that mobile game developers in India have so far focused on simple but addictive games, so there aren’t too many features/ levels that need to be unlocked (or hacked). I think this is because of a mix of low user base, low user sophistication and willingness to pay and low quality data networks at the operators’ end. So, I’m not sure if the free basic content paid premium content model will work.

I’m going to experiment with both online and mobile advergaming soon, so I’ll do a follow-up post on what we were able to work out.

By: Mobile Pundit » Event Report - MoMo Mumbai November

Mobile Pundit » Event Report - MoMo Mumbai November — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 11:06:12 +0000

[...] Read: Gaurav Mishra’s blog post on the discussion at [...]

By: Blue

Blue — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 06:14:31 +0000

I’m told that mobile gaming (in India) attracts a different — less geeky — audience from PC/ console games.

Gasp! Did you just imply I was geeky?! ^__^

So per-play is less than Rs. 10? How often does the player have to pay? Every time the player begins the game (and then has an unlimited number of “turns” until he/she stops the game), or every time the player loses a turn?

For me that would be a prohibiting factor, but again that’s for me alone. I know that there are people who have no problem dropping cash on things like that. I mean, sure, that was the entire principle of the old-school video arcade and plenty of people dumped money into those things.

The most successful model I’ve seen in terms of getting people to pay (by which I mean “it got me to pay”) isn’t the “pay-per-turn” kind of thing, but the “pay to unlock.” Give the gamers enough game to get hooked and then make them pay to access special features, levels, etc.

My telling you this is probably like the pot asking the kettle “have you ever thought of trying to sell people on “premium” or “exclusive” content?” ^__^ So I won’t elaborate.

But your original question was about how to share the risk with the game developer. Perhaps in a scenario like this the developer is building new “premium” material over a period of time; that is to say, if you both start out with the base game and a few premium components, then if the premium stuff sells you can pay the developer for more premium components which can then be sold to the gamer.

There. I have solved all of your problems. ^__^

By: Gaurav

Gaurav — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 04:36:28 +0000

@Blue: Have I told you yet that I blog to receive comments like this?

I’m told that mobile gaming (in India) attracts a different — less geeky — audience from PC/ console games. Therefore, the hack issue is the issue for PC/ console games, but a non-issue for mobile games. But, I’m not an expert on this either.

Also, the download charges for mobile games in India are in the range of $1 to $4 and — if the pay per play model works out — the per play charge will probably be less than 10 cents — small enough to make it a non issue if the game is borderline addictive.

The key, of course, is to develop a game that is (1) simple (2) addictive (3) aligned with the brand core. Without that, everything else falls apart.

Advergames as a differentiator for mobile phones/ mobile operators? Well, it reminds me of the Twitter as a differentiator for mobile phones/ mobile operators idea, but I don’t see any mobile operators trying it out anytime soon.

By: Blue

Blue — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 15:24:45 +0000

This may be a lengthy comment, but since I am a veteran and consummate gamer, as it were, this touches on a subject very dear to my heart. ^__^

This is the catch I see with the “brand-centric” chart.

If you let your users download for free (and then pay for multiple plays), if the game is any good people will figure out how to get around the “paying” part. Someone will hack it and then share the info online, etc.

I’ve never heard the word “advergaming” before, but I can guess what it means. ^__^ (It’s a word that only stays on one side of the desk, right? No one goes out to the public and says “play our new advergame?”)

So I checked out Jump Games and looked into their advergames.

Let’s see.

“Bingo! Chips Factory
Go Bingo! A Mobile advergame developed for ITC to advertise their new smackalicious product line of Bingo! Chips.”

No gamer is going to pay money to play Bingo! Chips Factory. (On the plus side, no one is going to try to hack Bingo! Chips Factory either.) And if you want money, you’re going to have to crack the gamer market.

The way I see it — and I’m not a marketing person — you’d have to make a deal with the phone company to have Bingo! Chips Factory installed on the phone (and free, like Tetris), and work out the money deal that way. If a person is comparing two phones and one has a bunch of games, even if they’re advergames, the game phone will win — or at least it would for me.

So then it becomes about mobile sales instead of about game downloads or pay-per-click sales.

Or you figure out a way to include product placement in another, cooler mobile game. Bipasha Bapu jet-skiing? I’d play that. She could snarf down some Bingo! Chips in a cut-scene after I won a level.

And I’d pay to download it one time, but I wouldn’t pay-per-game. If it were really cool I’d find a way around paying, and if it were lame I just wouldn’t bother paying (or playing) at all.

Sorry if this seems patronizing or full of stuff you already know. Again, I’m not a marketer, just a gamer. ^__^